Inside the Grindr Pleasure Ball in New York

Ryan Petersen (photo above)
Writer and DJ, Ridgewood

You look great.
I work at the event and they dress everyone who works at the party. There is also a make-up artist and someone who styles the wigs. It’s a full production.

How did you get the gig?
My friend is one of the party planners. He hired me and my friend as gossipers or handlers. The job description is really just to be warm and walk around. It’s the perfect job for me.

How was the party?
It’s a kind of company party with a few gay people from the nightlife. There are gay drag queen porn stars, but I also met the woman in charge of Grindr’s privacy. I finally got Grindr Xtra, the premium subscription, for free for a year. It’s not really a sexy, sexy party.

What makes a party ‘sexy, sexy’?
It’s tacky, but there’s a party called Wrecked at Basement, which is more like a take-off-your-shirt gay sex party. It’s a good place for me and my boyfriend to have a good time with a handsome guy visiting New York. Unfortunately I have been several times.

Will Cappelletti

Startup CEO, Washington, DC

Sean Patrick Henry

Product Director, Washington, DC

Matt “Cayden Foxx” Tobin

Wigmaker, Los Angeles

What were you doing before this?

Having a mild panic attack because I had a whole suitcase of stuff, jewelry, and accessories, and I had to put everything down and make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything. And then I was timing everything in my head: when to do my makeup, when to get dressed. It was a logistical, planned day for me.

Gracie J

Nail artist, Brooklyn

Harley Harris

Musician and DJ, Ridgewood

Seen anything strange tonight?

Not really. I mean, besides, I think about the strange ways that gay people normally behave when they consume alcohol. But I don’t think that’s that strange at the moment.

Zach Patton

Editor, Fort Greene

Keletso Makofane

Social Network Epidemiologist, Harlem

Angie Ta

Brand Coordinator, Bedford-Stuyvesant

Frankie Sharp

Event Producer, Times Square

Is there entertainment tonight?

There’s someone who writes beautiful, custom poems that are kind of like dirty limericks. I told her about my mother, who was a go-go dancer, and my father, who was a sailor – he was her No. 1 tipper, and that’s how they met. After a while they got married. They are still madly in love and very embarrassing in public. I love them.

Sophie Saint Thomas

Author, Hell’s Kitchen

Chet Callahan

Architect, Los Angeles

Justin Swisher

Brand Activation Manager, Philadelphia

Tell me about your outfit.

This is basically my plan B look. My boyfriend vetoed my other outfit because I showed a little too much skin, so I toned myself down. I pulled these pearls off a mannequin in Rome a few weeks ago when I was there for a wedding. I thought: I have to have this. I have a costume closet, so I took some other stuff out of there and then bought a new pair of boots.

Shane Cahill

Director of AI Law, Washington, DC

Drew Lausch

Comedian, actor, writer, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens

Jacinto Hernández, Director at architectural firm, Los Angeles.

CT Hedden

Curator and artist, East Village

Tristan Pineiro

Chief Marketing Officer, Los Angeles

Have you taken the subway in this outfit?

We have a taxi. However, I didn’t realize how big my head was with the wig on, so I had to sit on the floor behind the driver, who was very concerned that I wasn’t wearing my seat belt. Luckily it wasn’t far away. I literally fell on the sidewalk when I got here. It wasn’t a glamorous entry, but once I got in I was fine.

Yves Mathieu East

Model, singer and animal rescuer, East Village

Photos by Frankie Alduino

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